It is argued amongst Christians if the seven year tribulation of the prophetic end times is a true interpretation. In fact, this futurist view is not the most popular and most believed amongst Christians today. The idea of a seven year tribulation comes from a misinterpretation of Daniel chapter 9 which is a prophecy about the Messiah, not the antichrist or a seven year tribulation. So in Daniel chapter 9, the Jewish people are still in Babylonian captivity. There was a Jewish man by the name of Daniel and he loved God a lot. Daniel was praying in the first half of this chapter and it is at verse 24 where the prophecy begins.
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” (Daniel Chapter 9, verses 24-27 KJV)
So here, the angle Gabriel explains what must happen in this prophecy. Now this time is not literal. 70 weeks is about more than a year, and the Jews were in Babylon longer than a year. So what can this mean? Well the Bible has the answer, In Ezekiel chapter 4 verse 6 it states, “And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have appointed thee each day for a year.” (Ezekiel 4:6 KJV) Ezekiel is a prophetical book, so when relating with time, one prophetical day equals one literal year. So what is the time period that the Angle Gabriel explains. Let’s do the math. 70 weeks times 7 days in each week equals 490 days. Using the day for a year principal, this results to 490 years God has given Ancient Israel as the Angle clearly states. So when does this prophecy of the Messiah begin. The Angle has the answer. He said, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” (Daniel 9: 24 KJV) So from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem is when the prophecy would start. This command came in 457 BC when the Persian king made a decree allowing this to happen. So 457 BC is the starting point. Now the angle says seven weeks, threescore and two weeks or 62 weeks. So 62+7=69 weeks. This is equivalent to 483 days, and using the day for a year principle, 483 years. SO remember, years in BC go down while AD goes up. So subtract 483 from 457. 457-483= -26. So converting to AD, that is 26 AD. But there is a problem. You also need to remember that there is no year 0. It goes from 1 BC to 1 AD, so you need to add a year. This leads you to 27 AD. Now this is when the Messiah would arrive on this scene. now we can find in Luke Chapter 3, it states, the following, “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.” (Luke 3: 1-2 KJV) SO here is where some people may see a problem. There is a lot of date mixing with the 15th year of Tiberius’ reign. Since he officially became Roman emperor by himself in 14 AD, people start it there, and that would bring us to 29 AD. However, there is one fact to consider. Tiberius was made co-regent or co-ruler alongside Augustus, the Roman emperor who succeeded him. Tiberius began being co-ruler in 12AD. Add 15 years to 12AD and it reaches 27AD which many actually believe was the baptism of Jesus Christ, therefore anointing him as the Messiah and he began his ministry.
Now the last week is where everything gets crazy. This is where people get a 7 year tribulation from and that’s where they use the day for year principle. Yet, they do not use it for the first big chunk. Just this little part to go with their false interpretation. This is cherry picking from the Bible. So what is the real interpretation. Well it says the MESSIAH shall be cut off, and in the midst of the week (the last) he will cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease and he shall confirm the covenant. You see there is no indication if this talks about the antichrist. The only person mentioned before the actions is the messiah. Most Christians today think the antichrist will make a covenant with the Jews. Yet, this prophecy is about the coming of the Messiah and his sacrifice. It says in the middle of the week. The middle of the week or 7 literal years is 3 1/2. So Jesus did preach the gospel for 3 1/2 years. This would lead to 31 since the half of the year would reach to 31 AD or sometime around that. After these 3 1/2 years, he was killed as it says, Messiah shall be cut off or killed. Then he shall cause the sacrifices to stop. What does that mean? It means the old Mosaic sacrificial system was over nd Jesus established the new covenant with the blood he shed on the Cross for all humanity. Now what about the other half? The last 3 1/2 years. That was the time that the apostles of Jesus preached mainly to the Jews to give them more time to accept Christ as the Messiah. At this time, they rejected the message and it is debatable, but in one of the years from 33, 34 AD, 35 or 36AD. However, with the accuracy of the prophecy, 34 AD would be the most accurate choice. We can now see the brilliance or Christian prophecy and how God planned this out. Jesus’ sacrifice and mercy and love is enough to save the very worst of sinners. Will you accept it friends? I sure hope that you do.
